Wednesday, September 30

Ever notice how when you open certain websites you're bombarded with unappealing, boring and downright annoying ads? Or even worse, you click on a product or service and you suddenly see it pop up on sites everywhere! This happened to me just recently - I was idly browsing a webcatalog for seasonal home decor and accidentally clicked on an item. For the next couple of days this item showed up over and over again on every website that had ad space. Super annoying. Most people solve this by installing an ad blocker, which will "white out" the annoying ads, but wouldn't it be better to replace the white space with inspirational quotes or beautiful, uplifting images that you would actually want to see?

I was so happy when I discovered Intently. This site lets you replace online ads with the most inspiring images which you choose. Setting up an account is simple and entirely free.

Step 1: Go to Intently.com and fill out the information on the right, then click the green button.
Step 2: Create your first vision board.
Step 3: Activate your extension.

Once you're set up you can create your own vision board. With your extension activated you can add images to your board much like "pinning". Hover over the image and the top left corner will show the green "intend" button. Click on that and add it to your vision board. Of course, you can remove images if you feel so inclined. You also have the option of subscribing to other member's vision boards. The dashboard is the main navigation inside of Intently. Intently is available on Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers, but not yet available for mobile devices, as the site is still in its beta stage.

I've been using Intently for a couple of weeks now, and my personally chosen images that pop up on websites with ad space always make me smile. I have added some inspirational quotes about life, love, faith and gratitude which serve as a daily reminder and shape the way I feel while I work at the computer - inspired and uplifted!

Friday, September 25

So, after waiting almost three weeks the big fabric shipment finally arrived and I've been busy unpacking and listing them. It always feels a little bit like Christmas. I'm sure my fellow fabric addicts will get this :)

There's lots of lovely prints ranging from nostalgic roses to retro seed ads (red and pale aqua version) as well as pin dots, strawberries and plaids! The trend this season is soft grey, pink, red and aqua. These fabrics are all 100% cotton in premium quality and a quilter's dream!

Exciting news! I was at a private Spring 2016 fabric preview last week and Lecien is bringing back the enormously popular "Princess Rose". Even more exciting...I will be getting three sweet rose prints from this collection in pastel pink, blue and lavender as early as December of this year. Stay tuned!

If you aren't drooling over these, I have several other prints in knit/jersey quality as well as a variety of patchwork fabrics on hand as well! I am pretty sure I have something for everyone :) Good news ► STARTING TOMORROW THERE WILL BE A THREE DAY SALE AT 15% OFF ON THE ENTIRE STOCK (shipping costs remain the same / not applicable on reduced items). So, whether you sew for pleasure or thinking of sewing a couple of handmade gifts this holiday season NOW is the time to stock up. Remember the sale only lasts until Monday 28th Sep 2015 (midnight), so I hope to see you soon!

Friday, September 18

I got my first grey hair at age twenty-two. Apparently, I inherited the early greying from my maternal grandmother. Since then I have sprouted more and more grey. These days I pretty much have grey temples and streaks of grey at the back of my head. Which means I've been colouring my hair on a regular basis, since I don't feel comfortable (yet) sporting grey hair ;-) I've been using a drugstore brand (guilty), because it's easy to apply and I only have to leave it in for about ten minutes. As a small business owner I don't really have the time for prolonged beauty regimens! Lately though I've become concerned with the chemicals I've been subjecting my hair and scalp to. Last time I even noticed a burning sensation while applying it. And even though it is prohibited in the EU, some companies still test their products on animals. Luckily there are alternatives, such as Khadi® Herbal Hair Dyes.

Khadi® offers a good selection of hair colours. My natural hair colour is a very dark brown with chocolate highlights when exposed to a lot of sun, like during my childhood. It got darker when I came to live in Europe, though. Therefore I chose "Dark Brown". Plant based hair dyes are more intense and tend to darken after being exposed to air.

The darker your natural hair, the darker the dye will colour it, which means my ends turned out pretty dark. This means the next time around I won't need to dye the entire length, simply the top part of my hair. In the long run I'll be saving costs as I can probably use one package for three applications. The first time around I thought it best to apply the paste on my entire hair. Speaking of the paste - I mixed the entire package (100 gr powder) with black tea cooled down to 122°F. Why black tea? Well, the darkbown dye contains a lot of indigo. The black tea neutralizes the blue preventing my grey hair from having a blueish tinge later on...and it worked! Also, the paste smells like spinach. It really does. But that's better than any chemical smell, right? Depending on the length and thickness of your hair, you will have to leave the paste on for a minimum of thirty minutes up to two hours. My hair is medium thick and quite dry, so to be on the safe side I left it in for about an hour. I'm positively surprised by the results. Apart from the spot I missed at the back, the herbal dye covered all of the grey, even the silver at my temples! The colouring in those areas is not as dark as the ends, but as I explained above that's easily solved next time. Important: avoid shampooing hair or using styling products for at least 24 hours after dyeing, so that the colour can properly develop and set. As I mentioned it will continue to develop and darken when exposed to air up to 48 hours. I can attest to that.

Conclusion - although time consuming and messy I have decided to use this product exclusively in the future. I will just have to make time for it. The natural looking result plus the added bonus of no itchy or burning scalp is well worth it! Should you have any questions concering the dyeing process please don't hesitate to email me :)

Wednesday, September 16

Tuesday, September 15

The 5th annual Chinafest took place on September 5th in the big city. A day filled with Asian culture, dance, songs, artistry and more! I hadn't visited in a long time. It was unfortunate that the weather was at its most miserable on that particular day. Cold, wet and windy. Not conducive to successful photos. I knew there would be a dense crowd so I didn't want to carry a lot of gear. I opted to leave my tripod at home even though I knew it would have been useful to get a great shot of the dancers on stage. I also only took one lens (18-105 mm), which offers a good range for street photography, as I did not want the hassle of having to change it amongst said crowd. Here are a few candid shots.

The event took place on the old town square. When I arrived it was packed already. I was immediately transported back to my childhood home, except it was quite surreal seeing the typical Asian decor juxtaposed to the old buildings, the statue of Jan Wellem (on a horse) and cobblestone!